Newly released video of a fatal New York prison beating shows correctional officers repeatedly pummeling a handcuffed inmate, striking him in the chest with a shoe, and lifting him by the neck and dropping him. Body-worn camera footage of the Dec. 9 assault on Robert Brooks was made public Friday by the state’s attorney general, who is investigating the officers' use of force.
Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead at a hospital the morning after the assault at the Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison in Oneida County. Thirteen correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack will face termination, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and horrified” by videos of the “senseless killing.”.
The footage made public Friday shows correctional officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on a medical examination table. As one of the officers uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table. The officers then remove the man’s shirt and pants as he lies motionless and bloodied on his back.
“These videos are shocking and disturbing and I advise all to take appropriate care before choosing to watch them,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are still pending. Preliminary findings from a medical examination indicate “concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another," according to court filings.
